Michael Tapp (S4-S1)
Michael Tapp has appeared in Horror RPG Series 4, Season 1. |- | |} * Special Note: The events of the seven Saw films, as well as the Saw video games and sections of the Saw: Rebirth comic, are canon in this RPG. The Reborn Trilogy that crosses over Friday The 13th and Saw is also canon in this continuity, with some creative liberties being taken with that series as well for creative purposes for this RPG. Some creative liberties have also been taken for storytelling purposes and to fill in some gaps with the Saw films. It is very strongly advised that you see all seven Saw films before reading this wiki if you haven't, since this wiki contains major spoilers for all of the films. Proceed at your own risk. Michael Tapp is a main character from the Saw video game series and is from the second video game, and is currently controlled by HRPG writer Jack "TBNY" Bauer. Chapter History "We all made our own mistakes in our lives and Jigsaw shown that to us. I had my own few as did my father, but that doesn't mean folks like Hoffman, Jacobs, Poltzer and any other of those crooked motherfuckers could waltz up into our life and ruin it for their own gain by using our mistakes, they need to pay," - Michael Tapp Early Life Michael Tapp was born to David and Kara Tapp on October 19th, 1984. Michael had aspirations to become a journalist and pursued a career in journalism from a young age. After graduating from college, he got a job working as an intern for the L.A. Times newspaper, eager to get his journalism career rolling. Michael's relationship with his father was somewhat strained throughout his life and took an even worse turn in 2005 when David became involved with the Jigsaw Killer case. David was discharged from the police force after he and his partner Steven Sing raided Jigsaw's hideout at an old 213 Stygian Street warehouse without a warrant. Sing died from a rigged trap after he attempt to pursue Jigsaw after David had been attacked by Jigsaw himself during the raid. Michael, seeing an opportunity to finally hit it big as a journalist and realize his dream, stole files and audio tapes with crucial information about the Jigsaw investigation and the incident with the unauthorized raid. Contrary to what Tapp told the police after the raid, the files and tapes revealed he didn't have a warrant to do so. He published an exposé which destroyed his father's already tainted career from the incident, but making things all the worse for him was that he unwittingly aided in an illegal drug cartel being run by corrupt LAPD Chief Henry Jacobs and corrupt Vice Detective Joseph Poltzer (Michael was unaware of their cartel at the time). Sins Of The Son This terrible betrayal by his own son was a major factor in David's further psychological downward spiral and was also a factor in his eventual suicide in November of 2005 after he narrowly survived his own Jigsaw test at the Whitehurst Asylum. Despite being deemed a hero for saving several people at the asylum, the guilt of inadvertently causing Melissa Sing's death combined with not capturing Jigsaw and the betrayal by his son was too much for Tapp to handle and he killed himself. Following his father's suicide in late November of 2005, Michael was present with Jacobs, Poltzer and other LAPD personnel at the apartment where his father had been staying for the prior several months, obsessively spying on Dr. Lawrence Gordon's family when he was convinced Gordon was the true Jigsaw Killer prior to his test. Michael looked around the scene a bit, getting a hint of how his father's obsession had destroyed his life. As he was about to leave, a pig-masked figure jumped him after he headed outside and rendered him unconscious. Tests Of Truth Michael awoke sometime later to find himself in a cage at an abandoned warehouse, and he soon realized he was the newest test subject of the Jigsaw Killer. Michael was in the same room as another test subject, Solomon Bates, and to escape from their cages, both had to push the cages from the inside as quickly as possible while carefully running over a floor strewn with broken glass. Bates got out before Michael, but Michael was granted a second chance. He was to endure a series of tests all relating to his crooked style of journalism and to uncover more about his father's death and the rampant corruption in his precinct. Michael had to overcome an array of deadly obstacles and traps along the way that included in addition to rigged traps such as mounted firearms and mechanized blades crazed test subjects running rampant with weapons, looking to kill him. Along the way he had to solve an array of puzzles to advance throughout the trap-rigged warehouse premises. He also had to save a number of people along the way in their traps to uncover more about his father. Some of the subjects he rescued along the way included Griff, a college student accused of raping his female professor who'd been arrested by David, and Zeke, a pedophile who lost his arms from a Razor Box trap and later had blades fitted into his hand stumps, trying to chase Michael around the warehouse and kill him later, but ultimately meeting his demise when Michael activated a mechanical crushing trap (what would be the prototype or possibly actual model that killed Peter Strahm) that killed him. Michael's true tests however revolved around people directly connected with his father. He first freed Chief Jacobs from his trap, strapped to a chair with a revolver rigged to shoot him in the mouth if Michael didn't solve the puzzle he had to properly to save Jacobs, but he managed to do so. Jacobs was initially helpful to Michael after he was freed, but he wouldn't be this way for long when Jacobs ran into Poltzer along the way and the two conspired to kill Michael and anyone else who could've easily exposed the drug cartel they had run with help from Sarah Blalock and Carla Song, the latter of whom had been a medical student and mistress of another Jigsaw victim, Lawrence Gordon. Michael learned more about the drug cartel Jacobs and Poltzer secretly operated together over the course of his test, learning that the cartel was the reason Jigsaw wanted both corrupt cops tested along with those aiding them with the cartel. Shortly after freeing Jacobs, Michael came to his next obstacle and to progress, he was required to strap on a device to ensure he didn't stray off the path he was supposed to follow all along to pass his test, the device being the Shotgun Vest. Fitted with several shotgun shells loaded into gun hammers, the shells would activate from the vest's mechanical parts if the signal was triggered should Michael stray off the path or endure an overly blunt physical force that would prematurely detonate it. Michael would encounter the actual Jigsaw Killer in person several times throughout his journey. The threat of the Shotgun Vest prematurely detonating kept him at bay, but he learned more about Jigsaw's philosophy and ideology on appreciating life and survival. While Michael still viewed Jigsaw as a psychopath, he did better understand his way of thinking as his game progressed more. After strapping the Shotgun Vest to himself, he solved a series of complex puzzles to free Sarah Blalock, a prostitute and drug user who worked as an informant for his father. Initially resentful towards him, Blalock eventually was on better terms with him when they encountered each other again later and he helped her to navigate her way through the deadly enclosure. Sometime after freeing Blalock, he next freed corrupt Vice Detective Joseph Poltzer from a vise trap designed to crush all of his limbs, symbolic of the vices that corrupted him as a Vice Detective. Michael solved the puzzle to free him, but Poltzer was ungrateful for Michael's help and went on his own. Michael would have to survive both Jacobs and Poltzer for the remainder of his game as both tried to kill him and other survivors to eliminate loose ends that threatened to expose their corruption. Michael would next free Carla Song, who had sold some pharmaceutical drugs to Jacobs and Poltzer to sell on the streets. Michael freed her from a trap where she had her arms secured to an elevator shaft ceiling and her legs secured to an elevator roof, tearing her in half if Michael didn't free her in time by solving the puzzle to free her. He eventually did so, saving her life. Unfortunately, both Song and Blalock would be killed by Poltzer and Jacobs respectively along the way, all the while Michael pieced together the clues left for him in regards to his father and learned how he accidentally learned of the drug cartel being run by Jacobs and Poltzer during the Jigsaw investigation. He learned more of the truth as well after freeing Solomon Bates, an accountant who used his account to hide the drug money made by Jacobs and Poltzer's drug cartel. Bates had been in the cage trap earlier with Michael but was caught by Jigsaw's helper when he failed to properly follow the clues left for him to escape the warehouse. He freed Bates from a suspended cart trap above a track of rising flames, but he got him out of harm's way before a pig-masked figure helping Jigsaw later threw him into a pit of syringes. Michael's test came to an end when he fought with Poltzer, who tried to gun him down repeatedly. The two fought briefly before crashing out of the warehouse and outside, and fighting over Poltzer's revolver, Michael discharged a round that shot Poltzer in the head and killed him instantly. With his rivals out of the way and Michael knowing the full truth, he headed to a nearby building for the final part of his test. Path Of Flesh Michael came to a room with mechanical spiked walls that would slowly move in to crush him to death. He learned from an instructional tape left for him that his fate was in the hands of a stranger, unknown to him, a lymphoma-suffering drug addict named Campbell Iman. If Campbell chose to save himself, Michael would die. This wouldn't be the case, Campbell deciding to kill himself out of desperation. Michael carefully made his way along the plank to get across the chasm in-between the crushing walls and using the elevator at the end, made his way to safety. Upon making it to his next destination, Michael learned his true test was to see if he was able to punish the corrupt and bring about true justice. He was offered a final choice by Jigsaw with two doors: he could either take the files his father had and use them to publish the truth about the drug cartel and clear his father's name, or he could see Jigsaw's way better and aid him, taking the Pighead costume left for him. Michael, feeling a newfound respect for Jigsaw's philosophy, opted to take the Pighead costume, although he would later publish the article on the drug cartel as well, unfortunately overlooked by the media. After these events, Michael resumed living as a journalist albeit dropping his formerly crooked tactics. He took residence at his father's apartment, and he also occasionally attended the S.U.R.V.I.V.E. therapy group run by alleged Jigsaw survivor Bobby Dagen (he would be revealed to be a fraud the following year). It was at Dagen's meeting that Michael also met with fellow Jigsaw survivors Lawrence Gordon and Daniel Matthews, and he aided them both in capturing fugitive cop Mark Hoffman in December of 2006 when the renegade Jigsaw apprentice went on a terrorist and mass murder rampage to eliminate his rivals. Michael moved on with his life after helping to capture Hoffman, the secret one sworn to be kept by him, Daniel and Gordon, but it was something he still carried with him in the coming years. However by 2010, John Kramer had entered his life once more, even more scary, Kramer was killed by one of his test subjects in late October of 2006. Whatever it was that brought Kramer back, Michael was going to be helping him as his Pighead. Role in Horror RPG Series 4, Season One Regular Appearance Michael Tapp stands six feet tall and is estimated to weigh around one-hundred eighty pounds, with an average body type. He has short brown hair and brown eyes. He normally wears street attire, but typically wears dress clothing when he is reporting and is at work. Michael also has array of scars his right bicep and his feet from his test. As a Pighead (a term he uses when someone is working for the Jigsaw Killer), he is dressed with a red/black robe with a gruesome pig mask when he kidnaps test subjects for John Kramer's subjects. Trademark Gear During his test at the abandoned warehouse, Michael proved to be quite effective in using various melee weaponry, notably bladed and blunt weapons like the Nailbat, a lead pipe, and a fire axe. However, he does normally use items pertaining to his reporting, such as his tape recorder, laptop, and other "spy gear" for more closer stuff. He has also kept his father's case files, as well as his equipment including his Beretta 92FS pistol. As a accessory and accomplice, Michael carries chloroform and syringes filled with sedatives when he kidnaps John's test subjects, to make kidnapping them easier. He also tends to carry other items to use in the kidnappings that include plastic zipties and rolls of duct tape to bind and gag John's targets. Category:Reporters Category:Survivors of the Jigsaw Killers Category:Accomplices to the Jigsaw Killer